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Television: Liam Fay: Red card incident

Television sports punditry is hardly skilled labour. All it takes is familiarity with the noise and fury of competitive games and a deep-seated love of the sound of your own voice.

When television sports blab is attempted by hapless amateurs, however, one soon appreciates the finesse and fluency of the professionals. And, as we discovered on Gerry Ryan’s Sporting Heroes Hitlist (RTE1, Mon), armchair analysts don’t come more hapless nor amateurish than Blathnaid Ni Chofaigh.

The ubiquitous daytime presenter was among the would-be aficionados convened to critique the results of an opinion poll to determine Ireland’s greatest athlete. It quickly turned out that she understands as little about playing hurler-on-the-ditch as she does about every other sport.

Her comments about the footballer Paul McGrath — born in Ealing to an Irish mother and raised in Whitehall and Sallynoggin — were typically insightful. “I always want to hug Paul McGrath,” she declared, adding